White supremacy’s might makes right as The Catholic bishop of Covington, Kentucky, says an independent investigation “exonerates” students.
The Catholic bishop of Covington, Kentucky, says an independent investigation “exonerates” students from Covington Catholic High School who were at the center of a national firestorm when a video supposedly showed a confrontation between the students and Native Americans at the Lincoln Memorial.
Those students had been in Washington, D.C., in January for the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion demonstration, when they were captured on video apparently encircling Native American elder Nathan Phillips in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The video went viral on Twitter before eventually being removed.
A longer video later emerged showing the students shouting back and forth with a group of the Black Hebrew Israelites, a religious sect known for street preaching. A group of Native Americans eventually moved between both groups and into the crowd of students.
Furthermore, Covington Catholic Teen's Lawyers Intend to Sue Native American Activist Nathan Phillips.
Ohio Christian Alliance (OCA), one of several pro-life groups that called on federal law enforcement agencies to investigate threats of violence against the students, confirmed that the Covington FBI office was involved.
“OCA President Chris Long received a call from the Special Agent working in the Covington FBI office, confirming that the office was in receipt of our letter and confirmed that the FBI was working with local law enforcement to investigate the threats that were made against the school and its students,” Cleveland Right to Life stated in a press release February 8. “The indication was that charges will be filed in the coming weeks, if not days, against those who made threats against the students, their families, and Covington Catholic High School.”
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Wood and Sandmann family attorney Todd McMurtry announced earlier this month that they sent preservation letters to over 50 media outlets, individual journalists, celebrities, and several Catholic dioceses as the first step in potential libel and defamation lawsuits.
The death threats are inexcusable, and those who resorted to that, don’t get Democracy — living in a civil society. And I’ll say it again: they can Go Back to Public School.
Avoiding accountability takes various forms of lying to avoid consequences. First though, comes truth.
(Bold mine)
In a phone interview, Frejo said he felt they were mocking the dance.
One 11-minute video of the confrontation shows the Haka dance and students loudly chanting before Phillips and Frejo approached them.
Frejo said he joined Phillips to defuse the situation, singing the anthem from the American Indian Movement with both men beating out the tempo on hand drums.
During the incident, Phillips said he heard people chanting “build that wall” or yelling, “go back to the reservation.” At one point, he said, he sought to ascend to the Lincoln statue and “pray for our country.” Some students backed off, but one student wouldn’t let him move, he added.
Then comes bullshit.
(Bold mine)
I never interacted with this protestor. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protestors, and when the second group approached I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers.
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During the period of the drumming, a member of the protestor's entourage began yelling at a fellow student that we "stole our land" and that we should "go back to Europe." I heard one of my fellow students begin to respond. I motioned to my classmate and tried to get him to stop engaging with the protestor, as I was still in the mindset that we needed to calm down tensions.www.google.com/...
If he didn't "make any hand gestures," how did he "motion to his classmate?" I don't see it "with the protester" during the "period of drumming."
And "Go back to the reservation?" Go back to public school.
Phillips told Indian Country Today he admitted that he didn't really realize what he had gotten into until he was in the middle of it.
He said, “What am I doing?” You know? But this is the commitment when I picked up the pipe 27 years ago. It's for the next generation. It’s when that moment comes and you got to stand your ground. That commitment that you made to either fulfill that or you don't. I mean, I was scared and I didn't want to. I really, I really didn't want to, but nobody else was.”
Monday, Jan 21, 2019 · 5:48:19 AM CST · Winter Rabbit
Leslie in KY adds:
I saw the teens chant “you need to drink the Trump water” and tossing water bottles at the feet of the Black Israelites”. The situation seemed to me that the kids were acting like a mob towards the Black Israelites, who were “preaching” (and saying some offensive things too, something like “hey we are against the homosexuals so you should be on our side”; seems they were preaching against the Native Americans, legally using space adjacent to them). Phillips stated from his perspective there were a few kids, who left and came back with more, then on and on until there were a couple hundred surrounding the Black Israelites and escalating the animus. So he started his peace chants and walking toward the mob feeling he needed to defuse the conflict between the mob and the Black Israelites (who he did not agree with but respected their right to be there preaching).